Table of contents for June - July 2021 in Belle

Rationally, we know that life is relatively short and golden times don’t last forever, but on some level we simply expect certain figures who loom large in our world to be immortal. Carla Zampatti was one of those. Readers of a certain age will recall the days of the legendary Australian movers and shakers: the stars of our national magazine, newspaper and television landscape that shaped our thinking. Carla was a darling of the media and an incredibly stylish role model for Australian women. She was a successful businesswoman and mother who seemed to have it all and who appeared to succeed with an effortless elegance. She helped many Australian women with countless classic and winning looks for everyday, corporate and special-occasion dressing. Wearing Carla Zampatti is like donning a…

01 INSPIRING SPACES [ Child’s play ] BEMELMANS BAR Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle hotel in NYC is one of the most intensely memorable spaces. The hand-painted murals, originally created by Austria-born artist Ludwig Bemelmans in 1947, still adorn the walls with their soft ambient lighting. The characters were inspired by the Madeline books written by Bemelmans and depict the four seasons of New York. The childlike illustrations come to life at this iconic venue which is excellent for people-watching, too. rosewoodhotels.com THE GREAT OUTDOORS We do enjoy walking in nature and love to show its wonders to our little ones. The Calyx at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (left) is a must-visit! It has the most incredible displays throughout the year. Currently, inBLOOM is an exhibition displaying over 20,000 plants with…

IF YOU WANT a rural Australian country house that is warm and modern but also has a timeless classic quality, here is a quick lesson. Whatever your taste, the beauty of a country house is that the edges are softened by comfort and don’t need to be perfect. The secret? Go for large well-proportioned rooms in which to get together, simple joinery, and a soft, quiet palette. BE INSPIRED Make the most of the vistas you see and the connection to nature and greenery. Position new windows to consider the outlook. Bounce daylight and views around by hanging mirrors next to windows. REFLECT THE LANDSCAPE Integrate your home into its surrounds using materials such as stone and exterior paint colours that tie in with the location. COMFORT IS KEY Opt…

WHO HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR ENDURING CREATIVE INFLUENCES? Edwina Forest, Aje co-founder and designer: Adrian (Norris) and I have been creative partners for more than 13 years and always found ourselves to be moved and grounded by art, especially in the textural realm. We have been fortunate to have collaborations with two favourite Australian artists, Brett Whiteley and Minnie Pwerle, and have most recently taken inspiration from influential French architect Charlotte Perriand, celebrating her egalitarian mindset and iconic mid-century designs. WHAT WAS YOUR BRIEF TO THOSE ARCHITECTS? EF: To reflect the Aje brand ethos of an all-embracing, immersive space that is reflective of our 20 retail locations. We made a concerted effort to maintain a beautiful flow from the entry, through the open and light-filled showroom which possesses such…

CHARLOTTE’S STYLE is sublime and sophisticated. There are not enough superlatives to capture the spectre of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended – longer and more lavish than ever before. Every finish is ultra-opulent, from the 850 stars which illuminate the roof, massaging seats and a rear Champagne fridge with two cooling settings: six degrees for non-vintage, and 11 degrees for vintage bubbly. Despite its provenance, price and power, the Rolls-Royce is not flashy; it’s quietly and classically confident much like designer Charlotte Coote. Charlotte’s passion for design was ignited by her late father, larger-than-life interior designer John Coote. Charlotte spent a great deal of time in Ireland at the magnificent 18th-century Irish Georgian house, Bellamont Forest, which had been built for her ancestors and bought back and restored by her father…

Any new build shortlisted for an architectural award in 2021 has, arguably, satisfied the most demanding criteria in many years, given how buildings have had to adapt in the COVID era and be far more than a roof over a family’s heads. Melbourne’s Architects EAT, and its co-director Albert Mo, certainly achieved that with this new build at Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, which has been nominated in the category of Residential Architecture – Houses (New) at the 2021 Victorian Architecture Awards. What was the client’s brief? I’ve known the clients for a while and have designed commercial projects for them, as well as a house in Melbourne. Perhaps because this is their second home with me, they gave me more latitude to experiment. The brief was very simple –…

Byron Bay is home to remarkable residences, and Fairway, the homestead designed by Sara Horvath of Studio George in the nearby village of Federal, fits right in. It feels like the middle of nowhere, near the middle of just about everything, if you’d want to leave in the first place. What was the client’s brief? The project was introduced to us by referral. Originally, our brief was to specify paint colours for the home. This expanded into an extensive transformation to the interior structure of the home and its surrounding outdoor spaces. Internally, we redefined the spatial arrangements, specified built materials and designed all the details from joinery through to the final furnishing. Our brief was to build a connection between the interior of the home and its surrounding landscape.…

1 CONTENTED WINTER Now is the time to give your indoor living areas some attention. Coco Republic has released its new winter collection with plenty to inspire layered spaces worth lingering in. “Less is definitely more this winter and I am proud to show a juxtaposition of daring sculptural pieces teamed up with minimal forms,” says creative director Anthony Spon-Smith. cocorepublic.com.au 2 GOLD STANDARD La Cornue’s CornuFé 90 ‘Albertine’ cookers are such good lookers that it is difficult to imagine making a volatile vongole atop one of these beauties. Maybe something more refined like a cheese souffle would do this culinary classic justice. lacornue.com.au; eands.com.au 3 IT’S GOLDEN Add a grand dash of luxe and warmth with a Vola tap in Brushed Gold. Designed more than half a century ago…

SYDNEY SPIRITUAL REAWAKENING Before Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint’s exuberant works of abstraction marked a radical break from the figurative with their profusion of colour and enigmatic, diagrammatic shapes informed by her interest in spiritualism, science and nature. Yet the artist’s trailblazing oeuvre – including Group IX/UW, The Dove No.2 from 1915 (right) – was virtually lost until the 1980s and has long existed outside the modernist canon. Klint’s first Asia-Pacific survey, ‘The Secret Paintings’ shines a light on her monumental mystical paintings in a kaleidoscopic display celebrating her groundbreaking vision. June 12-September 19. artgallery.nsw.gov.au SYDNEY TALKING TIME From James Tylor’s daguerreotype portraits honouring First Nations arts workers – including Walgalu academic Aidan Hartshorn (above) – to crumbled columns rebirthed with plant life, artefacts resurrected through 3D…

WHAT INITIALLY APPEALED ABOUT YOUR HOME AND ITS ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN BY TOBIAS PARTNERS? I lived in Sydney in my early 20s, so when my husband and I moved back from Perth with a young family in 2004 we were keen to find somewhere close to the water. Bronte had always been a very family-oriented suburb and we loved the proximity to the beach. We were lucky to find a good-sized block of land in a quiet cul-de-sac. Nick Tobias understood our vision for a home and was happy to take our ideas onboard, which was important to us. The design of the house was a slight departure from their typical style – it is a mix of contemporary detail and classic elements. WHAT DID THE ALTERATIONS ENTAIL? The alterations to…

SO NICK, YOU'VE TAKEN ON A NEW ROLE AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART? Yes, over the past 15 years I’ve had various roles. Early on, I was involved in setting up the MCA’s Young Ambassadors program and was on the committee. About seven years ago, I joined the MCA Foundation. Then two years ago, I became a board director and now I’m the chair of the Foundation. So it’s been a long association – and it has been beautiful. The MCA is an institution that focuses on living Australian artists: that’s what it collects and predominately shows. One of the many contemporary Australian artists I really admire is Shaun Gladwell [1]. We’re not dissimilar in age, so I’ve feel a bit like my life and career has grown alongside…

For Pia Francesca, a tree change certainly didn’t mean leaving city sophistication behind. The interior designer’s inimitable mix of sleek and soulful pieces with a collection of global treasures has translated perfectly from her former pied-à-terre (featured in Belle August/September 2017) to this monochrome abode in the Southern Highlands. How did you first encounter your home? Luckily a friend alerted us to a new listing knowing we were searching in the Southern Highlands. We arranged a viewing, and gasped as we approached the black gates and sweeping driveway. We committed on the spot after exploring the house – it ticked every box plus more! What initially prompted the move to Mittagong, and what appealed about the home and its location? Longer than ever hot summers in the city had lost…

Yearly digital subscription for only $19.99 via auto renewal. Available on iOS and Android. SAVE 37% Perfectly COMPOSED ELEGANTLY ORDERED INTERIORS FROM MYKONOS TO MELBOURNE magshop.com.au/C/X212BED 136 116 and quote X212BED Terms & Conditions: Savings based on single-issue digital edition price of $3.99. Offer available until December 31, 2021. If you do not want your information provided to any organisation not associated with this offer please notify the Promoter in writing. For terms and conditions visit magshop.com.au/c/x212bed and for our Privacy Notice visit aremedia.com.au. Apple, the Apple logo and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Subscription automatically renews annually (8 issues) unless cancelled.…

WILD CREATIONS Hilton Carter has perfected the art of gardening indoors as seen in his inspiring Instagram posts and previous books. Described as a ‘plantfluencer’, his easy tips really struck a chord during the stay-at-home orders of the pandemic. His facility in mixing different leaf shapes, sizes and colours gives interiors vitality and freshness and his belief in the health-giving properties of plants and the beauty they impart is compelling. Hilton Carter, CICO Books, $43 A TALE OF WARP AND WEFT Proof that a rug is the pivotal point of a room can be found here where sumptuous floor coverings are showcased in interior design projects by such creatives as Christian Lyon and Robert Couturier, as well as the homes of celebrities including Madonna and Brad Pitt. The authors, who…

Acemetery in northern Italy seems an unlikely source of inspiration for a Sydney harbourside home, especially one as dynamic and luminous as this. But its architect Daniel Boddam has drawn design cues from a monument to modernist architecture, Carlo Scarpa’s concrete tomb to Brionvega founder Giuseppe Brion. Daniel has even named his own sculptural creation, a masterwork in its own right, Villa Carlo, to celebrate his muse. When he first visited the site in 2017 it was far from uplifting, being occupied by a ho-hum semi, reminiscent of the California bungalow style, but stripped of any original detailing and poorly connected to its garden. But the blue-chip location on a ridge boasting extensive views seduced the owners. Empty-nesters downsizing from a nearby property, they could see the potential and, having…

Lying nine miles or so southwest of London, between Richmond and Ham, Petersham is a place apart. There’s no high street as such and, though there are a good number of historic houses and a charming, if somewhat hidden, 18th-century village lock-up, none are open to the public. By car, it would be easy to miss the village, but approach from the river, and the picture is more seductive. Cross Richmond’s pretty green – Henry VIII’s old jousting ground – noting the stone arch of The Gatehouse (one of the last surviving traces of Richmond Palace, the much-loved home of Elizabeth I) and head towards the banks of the Thames. Today the frenetic comings and goings of the court are no more (it was at Richmond that Elizabeth received Francis…

Infuse gilt-edged glamour with an exotic concotion of flora and fauna. Art-deco arches, feathers, bamboo and brass make for a Roaring Twenties.…

SUCH IS THE EFFECT of an interview with Tasmanian architects Poppy Taylor and Mat Hinds of Taylor + Hinds that after 90 minutes I am ready to throw caution to the wind and buy a dilapidated Georgian cottage. I would then give them a blank cheque with the brief to apply their aesthetic of restraint, craftsmanship and rigorous planning. “Our work speaks to the traditions that we see here. We’re very aware that acknowledging them helps fortify our practice and gives it more meaning,” says Hinds. And I suspect, in order to become a client, there would need to be an alignment of values as is evident in the very best of their work, such as the multi-award winning Bozen’s Cottage in Oatlands. Dissuading the clients from a contemporary extension,…

THE NAME ELSA PE RETTI is indelibly linked to Tiffany & Co. and the organic, sculptural pieces of jewellery she created for the brand. What you might not know, though, is that she was also a dedicated and steadfast humanitarian. Elsa’s sudden death in her sleep this March, at the age of 80, has left a void for her many friends and colleagues, as well as the design and artistic world more broadly. She was born into wealth in 1940 (her father founded a major oil company), educated in Rome and Switzerland, and worked as an interior designer in Milan. At 21 she moved to Barcelona, where she began her modelling career, sitting for Dalí and mixing with his artistic coterie. In 1968 she headed to New York, where she…

COMPOSE A RESTFUL BEDTIME STORY WITH CHALKY PLASTER, POLISHED METALLICS AND RUSTIC TIMBERS.…

With its tree-lined boulevard location, traditional parquetry flooring and effortless European pieces, this home in East Melbourne has definite Parisian vibes. It’s an atmosphere owner Liz Hall was vying for at the newly renovated house that she shares with her partner Gavin Wright. “I love large, Haussmann-style apartments with their parquetry flooring and classic detailing,” says Liz. “I wanted there to be a feeling of height and space.” In a quiet location yet close to Melbourne’s CBD, the circumstances in which this house came to be were fortuitous. The discovery of the 1800s house coincided with Liz’s commencement of an interior design degree. A lawyer by trade, she had done a series of casual short courses over the years, but bit the bullet in 2018 for something more formal. Around…

WHAT WERE SOME OF YOUR EARLY CREATIVE INFLUENCES? Simone: Our home was filled with beautiful objects and original art. Though not high-end, they were colourful and stylish with a European aesthetic my parents brought from Germany. I studied at Sydney College of the Arts, which opened my world to design in all its forms, and worked as an interior architect for 20 years. Rudi: My father was an industrial designer for a lighting manufacturer in the 1960s and 70s, which started my appreciation and love for vintage lighting. We always had interesting lamps and prototypes at home. I studied art and now make sculptural pieces. WHEN DID YOU START COLLECTING AND HOW DID RUDI ROCKET COME ABOUT? S: I started serious collecting as a design student, wanting objects I couldn’t…